Medaka Box Abnormal Episode 10: Meaning of Life

“You were born to make everyone happy.”

Summary

Medaka decides to fight Zenkichi, who refuses to give her up to Oudo and his brainwashing. All along, Medaka starts remembering flashbacks of her past, in which she first went to the Kurokami household, met Zenkichi and learnt the meaning for her existence. Strangely enough, her past and current personalities conflict, and she finds herself crying over no particular reason at all, leading to her attempt to kill Zenkichi in order to make her tears stop.

Impression

We’ve seen so many sides to Medaka throughout the show, and this is one of the strangest cases yet – her train of thought that the reason for her existence is no longer so that she could help strangers. That fundamental belief is what has driven her for the entirety of nearly two seasons of this show, and I can’t help but feel slightly out of it hearing Medaka say that she was born to perfect herself. Being the great being that she is, Oudo didn’t actually end up finishing her brainwashing faster because he was an amazing guy – it was because he failed, and only succeeded in reverting Medaka to how she was when her Abnormality controlled her life. Kurokami Medaka’s mind was an egg, and all Oudo did was quicken it’s hatching. Now, Medaka will use the Flask Plan for her own purposes; to achieve the status as a greater being that she, and only she can become.

In the past, she’s always been confused as a child. She’s never really been an infant, and has ruined the lives of many adults by being too clever for her own good. Even her mother died of unrelated causes the very moment after she was born, leading her to believe that her mother’s existence was for the sole purpose of giving birth to her. It was Kumagawa’s very…negative thoughts (quite literally) that pushed her towards questioning her own existence, which eventually resulted in Zenkichi giving her meaning to her life. Even when Zenkichi’s long forgotten about that scene in the hospital when they first met as infants, he still stands true to his belief that Medaka was born to help others, which is what led to her trying to reverse Oudo’s brainwashing and return her to the normal Medaka-chan.

The exact status of Medaka’s Abnormality has always been a bit of a mystery so far in the show, and finally we’re getting hints as to what it might be. Being able to use a range of skills, from Takachiho’s Autopilot to Munakata’s hidden weapons and even syringes taken from Naze does suggest that her Abnormality allows her to copy the skills of others and use it effectively themselves, which would explain Medaka’s strange capability of being the best at everything from studies to sports. It’s a very main character-like skill to have, but what can you expect? This was serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump after all.